Prison stuff. In prison movies.
It’s easy to see how this came to be conceived, with its echoes of The Silence of the Lambs (1991), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), and Gorillas in the Mist (1988). And it’s easy to see why it never quite reaches the heights of those movies (or at least the first two). (more…)
Posted on July 26th, 2014 at 11:55 pm. Updated on July 27th, 2014 at 12:02 am.
I can’t recall another prison movie in which the main character says not a word throughout the whole film. Well, not one made after 1929, anyway. (more…)
Posted on July 11th, 2014 at 8:59 pm. Updated on July 11th, 2014 at 8:59 pm.
It’s quite possible that nothing much is going right for Sarah Jo Pender; she might or might not be guilty of a double murder in 2000 for which she is serving 110 years in prison, and there’s a good chance she’s still in solitary confinement after escaping from Indiana’s Rockville Correctional Facility in August 2008. But at least she can sit back be well pleased that they chose Jenna Dewan Tatum to play her in this made-for-TV film; the choice flatters her immensely. (more…)
Posted on July 6th, 2014 at 7:50 pm. Updated on July 6th, 2014 at 7:59 pm.
“And I don’t think I let the people in my life down by making the wrong choices. I think I let them down by convincing myself I never had a choice to begin with.” (more…)
Posted on June 27th, 2014 at 10:16 pm. Updated on June 27th, 2014 at 10:23 pm.
If you’re looking for some light entertainment, this is probably not the film for you. At one level it’s a story of an intelligent first-time prisoner battling to survive in a harsh prison. But it’s much more besides.
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Posted on June 23rd, 2014 at 9:59 pm. Updated on June 27th, 2014 at 10:22 pm.
This may not have been the first of the law abiding citizen movies – where decent guys engineer their transfer to prison in order to avenge horrible things done to their family members – but it came before Doing Hard Time (2004), Law Abiding Citizen (2009) and Offender (2012). And as far as escapist action flicks go, The Escapist goes OK. (more…)
Posted on June 14th, 2014 at 10:47 pm. Updated on June 14th, 2014 at 10:47 pm.
There is not much that can be said for this other than that it is a singularly distasteful, exploitative film. (more…)
Posted on June 8th, 2014 at 9:41 pm. Updated on June 8th, 2014 at 9:43 pm.
“Crime reporter Jack Moir is framed by crooked nightclub owner, ‘The Duke’. In prison, Moir plans his revenge…” is what the internet synopses say. And that’s all true. Just don’t expect a lot of prison plotting; the prison scenes account for just 5½ of the film’s 59 minutes. (more…)
Posted on May 31st, 2014 at 9:04 pm. Updated on January 1st, 2017 at 9:04 am.
In saying that this is the most interesting new prison movie for some time, I need also to declare my bias: I know a number of the principals connected with its production. (more…)
Posted on April 25th, 2014 at 4:10 pm. Updated on April 25th, 2014 at 4:24 pm.
The real-life trial around which this film revolves was a landmark battered wives case in Britain. Unfortunately, director Jag Mundhra makes the mistake of assuming that his audience has no intelligence at all; the story is so dumbed down and melodramatic that at every corner there is a “My God! That’s brilliant!” moment as someone thinks of flicking a light switch in the dark. (more…)
Posted on April 21st, 2014 at 7:18 pm. Updated on April 21st, 2014 at 7:18 pm.